Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE:SWX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.40.

SWX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $99.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Mizuho set a $96.00 target price on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southwest Gas in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southwest Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Gas

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Southwest Gas in the first quarter valued at $1,616,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 11.0% in the first quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Gas during the first quarter valued at about $279,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 13.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 94,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,566,000 after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SWX opened at $89.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.09 and its 200-day moving average is $83.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.28. Southwest Gas has a 52 week low of $66.93 and a 52 week high of $93.44.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.40 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $480.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.01 million. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Southwest Gas’s quarterly revenue was down 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southwest Gas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.170-4.320 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Gas will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Southwest Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Southwest Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.75%.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) is a publicly traded natural gas utility that provides regulated gas distribution services to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. The company’s core activities include the transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas through an extensive network of pipelines, service lines and metering facilities. Southwest Gas also offers related services such as system maintenance, pipeline safety inspections, emergency response and line extensions to support customer growth and ensure reliable gas delivery.

Founded in 1931 in southern Nevada, Southwest Gas has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the nation’s larger natural gas utilities by customer count.